2023 Assessment Specifications

Students will be required to respond in short and / or extended answers (800–1500 words in total) to questions relating to their choice of ONE of the following areas of computer science:

• big data

• network communication protocols

• computer graphics

Resources (case studies and / or other information) will be provided, and the questions will refer to these. Candidates may use words, numerical workings, and diagrams in their responses to show their reasoning.

• For big data, questions may cover: characteristics of big data (volume, variety, velocity, etc.), generation, analysis, representation (bias and display).

• For network communication protocols, questions may cover: the Internet protocol suite and its four abstraction layers (application, transport, internet, and link), application layer protocols (HTTP and IRC), transport layer protocols (TCP and UDP).

• For computer graphics, questions may cover: matrices and transformations, line and circle drawing, line and circle algorithms, graphics algorithms, image rendering, lighting.

Special notes

Teachers are encouraged to familiarise themselves particularly with Explanatory Note 4 of the Achievement Standard and to see how this has been exemplified in the 2021 assessment.

Questions will prompt the candidate to explore aspects of the area of computer science in such a way that their responses in whole or in part can be assessed against the criteria for Excellence, Merit, and Achievement (that is, the assessment will not comprise “Excellence-only”, “Merit-only”, and “Achievement-only” questions).

Teachers are encouraged to help their students to develop answering techniques to ensure that they are able to respond clearly and concisely within the total recommended word limit. 

Responses that exceed this may not be considered for assessment past the 1500-word limit.

The step-up in the levels of achievement

Achieved – analyse/explain:

• the key aspects of the computer science area

• relevant algorithms or other mechanisms behind the area

• how the area is used, is implemented, or occurs, giving examples.

Students use information including research and/or classwork that they have previously undertaken within a computer science area in the achievement standard. They use this information to support their statements about the key aspects, how the area is implemented and to provide reasoning for the behaviour of the algorithms or mechanisms used within their context. For example (within computer vision), how an algorithm can pick up and identify facial features.

Students will provide a detailed account of how and why a computer science area occurs, within a particular context. For example (within computer vision): detailing why and how facial recognition is used by computers to match a facial scan to the photograph embedded in an e-passport.

Merit – analyse in depth:

Students use information from research and/or classwork within the chosen computer science area to:

• provide a detailed explanation of how the technical capabilities and limitations of the area relate to humans, giving examples

• compare and contrast different perspectives on the area. 

Students analyse, with examples, the capabilities and limitations of the chosen computer science area and with humans. Students break an issue into its constituent parts and look in depth at each part using supporting arguments and evidence on how perspectives for and against and how these are interrelated to one another.

Excellence – critically analyse an area of computer science involves drawing insightful conclusions about the computer science area.

• drew accurate conclusions linked to their earlier responses

• argued why their conclusions were valid, true, applicable or correct

• drew conclusions that showed the candidate comprehensively understood the area they were discussing

• criticised the area objectively 

• linked their insightful conclusions to their previous answers rather than postulating new technologies, or knowledges, or outcomes, without providing a premise for a train of reasoning.